News of Manafort’s coordination with the Russian, Konstantin Kilimnik, came to light by mistake on Tuesday when his defense team failed to properly redact portions of a court document meant to defend their client from accusations he lied to investigators.

Legal experts told ABC News this week that sharing campaign polling data with a foreign person is not a crime, but could be an important piece to the puzzle concerning possible Trump campaign coordination with Russians during the 2016 campaign – a subject being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

A jury convicted Manafort on eight counts of tax and bank-fraud in August during his trial in Alexandria, Virginia. On the eve of a second trial in Washington, D.C., the next month Manafort struck a plea deal with prosecutors. he agreed to fully cooperate with prosecutors and plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy in a separate case in Washington, D.C.

But that plea deal fell apart after prosecutors accused him of lying.

Manafort’s sentencing in Virginia is scheduled for February 8 and in Washington, D.C., on March 5, but the president hasn’t ruled out a pardon for his former campaign chairman.

Trump, asked by the New York Post in November whether he was considering a pardon Manafort, said that he “wouldn’t take it off the table.”